S.Jacob Rasalam had dreamt of becoming a teacher, but ended up as a policeman. He later volunteered for early retirement to devote his time entirely to agriculture, his first and greatest love.

The garden with its many rare species of plants is a veritable biological treasure house. "Research students from agriculture colleges at Vellayani and Vellayanikkara, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University and Tropical Botanical Garden at Palode come here to collect rare plants. Most of the visitors are surprised at the farmer's innovative humidity chamber and green houses. They appreciate the scientifically correct way of grafting, budding and layering being practiced in the farm.

Though now in his 70s, Rasalam is a practical farmer. Once when swarms of mite attacked the coconut trees in the neighbourhood, his trees were unaffected. The trick employed by him was simple. "I kept containers with either sugar or jaggery below the trees and in no time all the ants, cockroaches and lizards, after exhausting the contents of the containers, climbed up the trees and devoured the mites," he says with a smile. Once he succeeded in his experiment, he shared the technique with everyone in the locality.

Similarly, when a neighbour tried to grow cash crops like rubber, acacia etc. adjacent to his boundary, he countered by planting food trees like jack fruit tree, tamarind and guava to resist the aerial and underground encroachment into his land.

Incidentally, his plants displayed at flower shows always steal the show and fetch prizes. A recipient of many awards, he remains humble as ever. He believes in the dictum, "Not on our merits, but on His grace" and says so in mellifluous tone.